


To Live In The Truth

by Go0se



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Based on a Fanfiction, Friendship, Gen, Innocences Are People, Non-Graphic Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-13
Updated: 2017-11-13
Packaged: 2019-02-01 04:45:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12697641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Go0se/pseuds/Go0se
Summary: Crystal Path has always been with Mei-Ling.Allen has always been able to see Innocences as the people they are.Mei-Ling has always wanted to make others happy.





	1. The Young Seer

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Synchronization](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5172830) by [liketolaugh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/liketolaugh/pseuds/liketolaugh). 



> Hello! This is a fic of liketolaugh's 'Synchronization', so please go read that first, because it is beautiful and because without it a lot of this will probably be straight-up nonsense.  
> Title was utterly impossible to come up with, holy God I can't even express, but I _think_ I got there. It is from 'Hopeless Wanderer' by Mumford and Sons.  
>  Thank you to my friends for dealing with hand-wringing over this, to Rose and Kat for editing it with me, Liketolaugh for writing such a lovely fic to begin with; and to you, for reading.

_The full moon’s light on crystals in a dark cave._  
_Reflections in the facets: paths converging in a snowy wood._  
_Clock bells chime. The reflections flicker; paths bend or disappear._

 

It wasn’t an easy thing to read the future.

 

Seeing the future was less of a problem. Little glimpses were possible, of a wedding or a funeral or tomorrow's clouds.  But beyond those fleeting images, there was just so _much_ of it, and so little of it was ever certain until minutes or seconds before it happened. To understand that about time’s nature, to make sense of it, was difficult. Most humans couldn’t hold on through that kind of uncertainty for long.  

Crystal Path knew more than one fellow Innocence who wouldn’t be able to handle it, and humans were much, much more fragile than herself and her kind.

 

For that reason, Crystal Path had spent long stretches of her seven thousand years alone.

She tended to pick her accommodators carefully, and bond strongly early on when she did find them. She liked it that way; and besides, there wasn’t another choice if she wanted their synchro rate to be useful together.    
Her preference tended towards artists, philosophers, teachers and the occasional scientist.

Above all, her people needed to have a mind open to possibilities, and they needed to be quick on their feet. Crystal Path couldn’t defend her accommodators directly until they reached the critical point, and that could take years. Early warnings were all she could offer to them until then.

Ideally, they would be in the company of other accommodators, ones who could fight for and alongside them.  But very few of her people ever got there.

  
Mei-Ling was a significant exception.

 

Crystal Path’s arrival in what would eventually be Bú Mei-Ling’s family started as just one stop on her long journey. She’d been a crystal ball for a number of decades by that point, placed on a high shelf with other precious things in the home of a Chinese family who lived in a small fishing village in the mountains. The middle daughter of the house, Yàn, had eventually married a friendly boy from the next town over. Yàn’s aunt had given Crystal Path to the new bride as a wedding gift.

 

The house that she was brought into was small, which suited the newlyweds fine. Crystal Path was moved to a low table in an out of the way corner and then almost forgotten. She floated in her visions, for the most part.

When she wasn’t watching futures flow in and out of existence, she watched the humans. 

She liked the little Jiàng family—Yàn, who Crystal Path had known since her birth, and her new husband Mǐn, as well as Yǒng, Mǐn’s aging father. Mǐn was a good man who had reasonable skill with woodcarvings. He sold his handicrafts in the village’s market square. Yàn watched after the house, doing long hours of work cleaning and preparing meals and washing and mending, as well as making new friends with neighbours, and sitting with her father-in-law to go over the books the old man had in his collections. Yǒng had been a craftsman in his youth, like his son, but as he’d gotten older his hands had swollen up to the point where writing was easier for him than wielding tools. He enjoyed sharing the poems he'd collected with his daughter-in-law. They got along well. Mǐn would come home in the evenings and all three of them would eat together, usually contently.

None of them were suited to be Crystal Path’s accommodator, but they were good people. She’d been warmed by their excitement when they were expecting the first baby a few months into Yàn and Mǐn’s marriage.

 

Mei-Ling had arrived into the world in late summer, and she had taken on her father’s family name at first.

 

The first couple years of Mei-Ling’s life were unremarkable, as far as human’s lives went. Her parents and grandfather all adored her. There were hard times, and easier times, and through all of them she grew.

The town’s only midwife died when Mei-Ling was two years and six months old. The community mourned her passing, especially as she hadn’t taken an apprentice. Birthing was dangerous work to do alone. When Yàn grew pregnant again soon later, her and Mǐn loaded up the one cart the family owned so they could go be with Yàn’s family until their new child joined them.  
Crystal Path, unseen, fretted back and forth in front of their bed as they talked out the plan. She wished they wouldn’t go, but could do nothing to stop it.

Yàn’s home village was about four days out by cart on a road through rocky hills.  It would be difficult to bring Mei-Ling along safely. She could walk and talk by then, and had grown to be a cheerful but rambunctious toddler. Since she didn’t need to nurse anymore, the family eventually decided to leave her with Yǒng until they returned. It was, after all, only a temporary trip.

 

On the day Yàn and Mǐn left, they both pressed kisses all over their daughter’s small chubby face. Yǒng encouraged Mei-Ling to wave at them as their cart and donkey moved down the road.   
The little girl would never see them come back.

 

Mei-Ling was still too young to properly understand what was going on. At first, on most days, she would wake up and call through the house for her mother and father.

But, as she grew, she called for them less and less. Eventually she forgot almost all about her parents. Her grandfather became the only family she knew.

And she was happy. Her grandfather told her stories at night, and tightly held her small hand on their daily visits to the market square. Mei-Ling babbled Mandarin with him as happy as a bird in a nest (although half of it was nonsense, of course). The other villagers called her little sparrow with affectionate smiles when she toddled by in the street. She laughed brightly and was full of questions.

 

Crystal Path, unseen and watchful as ever, was surprised.

 

She liked the little girl, as she’d liked Mei-Ling’s parents and grandfather. Mei-Ling was a curious child, growing into kindness, energetic and happy to please. But there was more than that. Underneath everything the people around her could see, not-yet-awakened parts of Mei-Ling’s soul burned. Determination, stubbornness, a deep-seated need to help and protect. All qualities that a good accommodator possessed.

Futures were so rarely certain. Mei-Ling had possibility inside her nonetheless: a small light flickering.

 

Over the centuries Crystal Path had bonded with several child accommodators, choosing them for their imagination and spirit. They were always a privilege to watch grow. Crystal Path always ached most fiercely when she lost them. It wasn’t a light decision to make.

She hesitated for another two years; no time at all to her, but it was astonishing how much Mei-Ling changed.

 

When Mei-Ling was four years old, Crystal Path knelt in the dark beside the little girl’s sleeping pallet and listened.   
Mei-Ling’s dreams were complicated and wild, as those of children often were. Fantastications and memories chased each other in and out of the deepness of her mind. 

The Innocence stayed there all night, considering.

 

The next morning after her breakfast Mei-Ling wandered into the corner of the main room. She didn’t usually play there, as her grandfather had told her over and over there was a lot of glass, and glass things cut when they broke. But something felt… _right_ in this corner. She wanted to play here today.

Mei-Ling ran her chubby hands over the top of the small wooden table that took up most of the space. She couldn’t see over the top of it. She flailed her hand around curiously, surprised when it suddenly met something smooth and a little cold. It seemed to warm up when she touched it, like it was saying hello to her.

She blinked, then balanced on her tip-toes to see the crystal ball sitting there. Her face shone. She reached out her palm.

Crystal Path reached back.

 

 

For a few weeks she and Mei-Ling shared a quiet partnership. Then others took notice.  
It started when Mei-Ling outgrew her toddler shoes, and exclaimed happily to her grandfather that she was _right about Miss Jin having new sandals today!_ as they stood in the middle of the market. When the stall owner had, laughing, asked the young child how she’d known, Mei-Ling had replied proudly that her crystal ball had shown her.

News spread fairly quickly around the village that the young Jiàng girl who lived with her grandfather could tell fortunes.  People started knocking on the door of the house, first curious and then enthralled.

Crystal Path saw no harm in it. Mei-Ling was thrilled to do readings for anyone who asked. Yǒng, for his part, would never prevent his beloved granddaughter from anything that would make her happy. He did impose a firm schedule to keep Mei-Ling from wearing herself out, since she was just a growing girl. Otherwise he let her do as she wished.  
Eventually it became routine. 

Thanks to Mei-Ling’s gift, her and Yǒng were even given a new name by the townspeople: Bú, the seer family.

 

A member of the village council approached Yǒng when Mei-Ling was seven. He offered the two of them a new home in the wide, walled lot by the top of the village, where a nobleman and his family and servants had lived before he’d passed away and the rest of the family had moved towns, about ten years earlier. It had been empty and unused for a long time, so there would need to be repairs done, but the scribe explained how the villagers had offered to help clean and restore it as much as was needed.  

Crystal Path watched the encounter curiously. She had heard talk of the estate from a few villagers who had been waiting in line to have their fortunes read days before. “It’s a pity such a sweet girl lives in so small a house,” one woman had said to her friend. Most people around them had agreed.  
That sentiment, apparently, had spread through the town.

“Your granddaughter gives us all a blessing,” the man said to Yǒng when he’d finished laying out the offer. He smiled. “It’s something to show our gratitude. Please consider it, at least.” 

Yǒng had thanked the man and shown him out.

Then he’d gone into the back room of their small house, where Mei-Ling had been having a nap after long hours of smiling and telling fortunes. Yǒng watched her sleep for a minute, then went to sit beside her, wincing at his knees’ creaking. He spread out the papers he’d been noting poetry down on earlier in the day and started tallying numbers instead.

After a few minutes, he sat back, then looked at the child again. He smiled softly.

 

Mei-Ling and her grandfather moved into their new home when she was seven and a half. Of course they took Crystal Path with them. (She was glad to have been able to give them that, however indirectly.) 

 

As time went on Crystal Path became more and more sure of her young accommodator. Mei-Ling accepted the Innocence’s visions with grace and excitement, always happy to tell the villagers who wanted guidance what she could see. She never showed signs, outward or inwards, of not being able to handle or understand what she was shown.

Admittedly, the Innocence had intentionally tried to keep the visions she showed the young girl lighthearted. She had learned to be careful with her accommodators over the years. Sometimes strain could show itself suddenly, and someone who’d previously been strong and whole could fracture from the edges in. Mei-Ling was too young yet.

(That was what she’d told herself, anyway. She always got so attached to the children. It was impossible not to.)

 

 

By the time Mei-Ling turned ten, Crystal Path had been ruminating on the visions of the Black Order for a while. The akuma; an aftermath of a terrible battle; would-be fellow Exorcists, all so young, bloodied and fallen. It would be a hard lesson for her girl to learn. She understood that. But Mei-Ling had to know. The day was coming quickly, and there would be no other choice.

 

Crystal Path had all faith in her accommodator to make the right decision. She needed to have courage, that was all. Mei-Ling had grown wonderfully, and she still had so many chances to improve.

The Black Order would be good for her. She would have to leave her grandfather, which Crystal Path was sorry for, but there'd be others at the Order who she would care for and who’d care for her in return. Mei-Ling would learn to use Crystal Path as she was meant to be used: held out steadily to light the way before them, so others could see the fight ahead.

 

Despite the darkness of the hour and her worry for her girl, Crystal Path was excited. This was the closest one of her accommodators had gotten to what she wanted for them in longer than she cared to reckon with. And, for her own part, she was happy to be with other Innocences again soon. She was a weapon of God meant to be used in concert with others, and she had been alone for so long.

There were other considerations, as well, that she had been watching grow clearer as Mei-Ling slept— prophecies and fates. Events moving like wind currents, stirring the fog.

 

It was almost time.

 

 

/


	2. Conflicting Futures

 

Allen woke up to the sight of a small shadow hovering by the door.

His first thought was to worry that something had frightened Mei-Ling again. During the battle they’d seen numerous level ones and two level twos in the area; what if they’d missed one? In the dark he scanned the room, but his eye wasn’t activating.  He still sat up quickly, fumbling to light the lamp on the small table near his bedside. “Is something wrong?”

The lamp caught and glowed, and as his vision adjusted the shadow became a young girl he hadn’t met before. The light revealed her simple Chinese dress, long black hair tied back in loops, and her brilliant Innocence-green eyes. She beamed at him.

Allen relaxed, leaning back on the wall his bed was pushed against. “Oh. Hello.”

 

 _Recognition,_ Mei-Ling’s Innocence replied happily.

 

For Allen, Innocences had always been people. He’d been able to see and hear them his entire life, although for the longest time it had only been Crown Clown. Crown Clown had been his protector and caregiver when the entire rest of the world had been cold and unforgiving, and Allen trusted him more than almost anyone. It had been a shock to realize that not all of the Exorcists felt that way--that they didn’t even know Innocences  _were_ people. The only person who knew was Cross, and then only because Allen had told him he could see Judgement back when they had first met.

Cross had warned him against telling anyone else. For the last few years, Allen had kept it a secret without much trouble.  
It’d gotten harder to keep his cover when he joined the Order, just because there were so _many_ Innocences to talk with. They didn’t speak the same way as humans did, but Allen had been listening to Crown Clown his whole life so he usually understood what one meant by the images, impressions and emotions they transmitted. Sometimes he wished he could reply in kind, but talking worked well enough.

The Innocences he’d gotten to know at the Order were all very different from each other. Despite that, he considered almost all of them friends. Meeting another one was exciting.  

 

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Allen told the newcomer. Then he yawned, looking around again to see who else was with them.

 

The light revealed there were three other Innocences in the room. Crown Clown, of course, who was sitting near Allen on the end of the bed. A boy of about fourteen with freckles and straight, mid-length ginger hair, Crown Clown might’ve passed for Allen’s younger brother in a different life. _Warmth,_ he greeted Allen, who nodded back.

The other two, Dark Boots and Iron Hammer, were both leaned against the far wall facing Allen’s bed. Dark Boots was a young woman of around nineteen, with a heart-shaped face and eyes more cutting than most humans or Innocences Allen had ever met. Iron Hammer, a man of about twenty-five, had sharp features and hair like steel wool worn in a ponytail low on his head. Standing together they looked like vaguely disapproving chaperones, but Allen could tell both of them were paying sharp attention. All the Innocence's eyes were the same shade, iridescent green; Dark Boots' and Iron Hammer's watched the room closely.

Bloody Krory was nowhere in sight, and neither was Heaven Compass.  Strange, Allen thought; he would’ve assumed that the Bookman’s Innocence would want to meet their new comrade as well. Bloody Krory’s absence was not a surprise.

 

 _Allen, a winter bird’s nest. Amusement,_ Iron Hammer said with a grin and a nod at Allen. Then his eyes went to the new arrival. _Interest. Greeting!_

 _Greeting,_ Dark Boots added as well.

 _Joy!_ Mei-Ling’s Innocence chirped. She clasped her small hands together. _Happiness, excitement!_

 

Clown Crown smiled, looking at her and then at Allen expectantly.  
Allen smiled as well (even as he self-consciously patted his hand through his bedhead). He cleared his throat.  “My name's Allen. Who are you?”

 

The young-looking Innocence beamed. What came next was almost a torrent of images, all blurring together: _A river, a road; the turn of a path in the winter wood; sun on the snow and fog at night, light in a glass sphere, turning over itself; lights in the sky. Flickering reflections on crystals in a dark cave, the path bending, rivers turning. A clock bell chimes, fog clearing; snow melts, thickens, was never there._

 

Allen blinked. That… was more than Innocences usually described themselves. He took a second to try and parse through it.

 _Allen under an avalanche of paper, hand twitching._ Iron Hammer smirked. _?_

Crown Clown rolled his eyes. Allen blushed, embarrassed.

“It’s fine,” he insisted. He spoke to Mei-Ling’s Innocence again. “Um, sorry, could you repeat…?”

 

 _Apology! Reassurance._ The Innocence wiped her hair out of her face and looked at Allen directly instead of around at the other Innocences, like she had before. She seemed to be concentrating. The images were slower and clearer this time. _The full moon’s light on crystals in a dark cave. Reflections in the facets: paths converging in a snowy wood. Clock bells chime. The reflections flicker; paths bend or disappear._

 

That was easier. “Crystal Path,” Allen guessed.

A smile appeared on the Innocence’s face once again. Crystal Path nodded. 

Allen returned it, happy to have gotten her name right.

 

Crystal Path’s smile wavered and then fell. _Embarrassment,_ she mumbled, waving her hands around as if to encompass the room. She turned to Dark Boots and Iron Hammer, then towards Crown Clown and Allen as she spoke. _A firecracker with sparks flying everywhere, apology. A dark shelf thick with dust, the moon ripening and waning. Several Innocence cubes glowing; happiness, comfort._

“It’s alright,” Allen reassured her. “I was alone for a long time too once. It took me awhile to get used to talking to people.”  
Crystal Path turned to him quickly, searching his face. She nodded at him, seeming to relax again. _Recognition._

 

Apparently done explaining for the moment, she went over to the far wall by the window and sat on the ground underneath it with her legs criss-crossed. She arranged herself so she was facing Allen but could see all of them.

 

Allen rubbed at his eye, then sat up straighter, pushing the blanket off of his legs. “I need to talk to you, please.”  
Crown Clown looked at him. _Allen sleeping,_ he said, stern but not insistent yet.  
“I will, don’t worry,” Allen replied. “I just want to ask her something.”  
Crown Clown considered for a second, then softened. _Understanding. Agreement._ He turned toward Crystal Path. _?_

Both Dark Boots and Iron Hammer looked up as well, curious.

 _?_ Crystal Path blinked back at them all.

 

“Crystal Path, why were you…” Allen hesitated, not wanting to make her upset. He didn’t know much about her, but based on what he’d seen of her and her powers so far, it seemed like she wasn’t the calmest Innocence he’d ever met.

He looked to Crown Clown, who nodded at him to continue. “What happened when you were in the lake? Why were you so…”

 

She seemed to understand without him finishing the thought. _Mei-Ling and her grandfather disappearing through thick water?_ She asked. She hunched in on herself slightly.

 

That must be the night they had thrown her into the lake. Allen winced, but pressed forwards. “Yes.”  
He wanted to understand. Especially if Mei-Ling was going to be an Exorcist, Allen had to know what had happened to damage their bond so badly, and hopefully figure out how to prevent it from happening again--at the very least he needed to try.

  

Crystal Path’s small face twisted. _Pain,_ she told them. _Mei-Ling and her grandfather disappearing through thick water, shock, disorience. Pain-disbelief, betrayal? Disbelief. Confusion-hurt, anger, darkness--_

 _A pipeline severing?_ Iron Hammer interrupted, face solemn.

Crystal Path hesitated. _… hopelessness,_ she allowed. _A pipe half-full of water, cracking along its walls_. But then she shook her head harshly. **_Horror_** _! Mei-Ling as a baby, a bright-eyed toddler, warmth; as a young girl, love. Mei-Ling cowering in a corner of her home,_ _regret! Self-recrimination! Mei-Ling weeping blood, anguish! Denial!_ ** _Denial_** _!_

  
Allen nearly flinched. He didn’t understand—were her and Iron Hammer talking about Crystal Path draining the canals in the village? But then how could Mei-Ling have gotten so hurt? It didn’t make any sense to him, but whatever it was, he’d have to ask later.

It seemed perfectly clear to the Innocences. Iron Hammer didn’t say anything, merely nodded, face impassive. Dark Boots and Crown Clown were regarding the young-seeming Innocence seriously, too.

 _Sorrow._ Crown Clown glanced at Allen and then back at Crystal Path. _Sympathy. Understanding._

Dark Boots crossed her arms. _Mei-Ling as she was now. Faith?_ She questioned.

 

 _Faith!_ Crystal Path snapped, her eyes bright with tears.

Then she drooped. She looked to the ceiling and continued her story, closing her eyes against it. _Pain. Mei-Ling turned away from Crystal Path’s equipment form, disbelief, sorrow. The lake in moonlight. Rushing water, light disappearing; cold, shock, the turn of a path in the woods as day slid to sinister night. Mei-Ling alone. Regret, frustration, fear. Mei-Ling slain by an akuma in her home, horror! A burst glass,_ ** _pain_**. She clenched her eyes shut tighter, both hands waving in front of her as if to ward off something. _The moon withering,_ _loneliness, the silence of water, isolation, panic, dark, dark above and below—_

 

 _Crystal Path calm!_ Crown Clown cut her off.  
Before Allen could wave frantically to him to help the poor Innocence somehow, Crown Clown crossed the room and knelt on the floor, putting his hands on Crystal Path’s shoulders. He looked into her face earnestly. _Calm._ _Allen and the others bringing Mei-Ling back from the lake. Still waters. A crystal ball on the cloth-covered table outside the bedroom. Mei-Ling’s face as she held Crystal Path close to her chest?  
  
_ Crystal Path’s eyes had snapped open, shiny and beseeching, when Crown Clown had touched her. She finally stilled. _Mei-Ling’s face,_ she agreed. 

 

Crown Clown pulled back, rejoining Allen and giving Crystal Path room to wipe her eyes.  
 _Apology,_ she said, and then hiccuped.

“It’s alright,” Allen replied quickly. He purposefully relaxed his shoulders from where they’d ended up clenched by his ears as Crystal Path’s story had devolved into panic, feeling awful. “I’m so sorry— I, I shouldn’t have asked so soon.”

 _Disagreement._ Crystal Path looked up at him, a small smile on her teary face. _Allen and the others bringing Mei-Ling back from the lake. The four Exorcists all fighting the level two akuma, freeing Mei-Ling from its claws. Admiration._

Allen blushed slightly. “Well, it was no trouble,” he said. That wasn’t strictly true; him and his friends could’ve died. But Allen didn’t want to tell Crystal Path that, especially since they’d only done what Exorcists were meant to do.

Crown Clown knew it, too. He turned towards Allen to glare at him for a second, then smiled fondly. _Allen barely awake, hurling himself into the fight._ _Pride._    
Iron Hammer grinned. _Agreement._ _Lavi using Iron Hammer’s fire seal to great effect, boasting at the akuma even when beaten down, exploding the akuma into ash; pride!_ He turned his head to looked at Dark Boots, the grin turning more teasing.  
Dark Boots rolled her eyes at him and sniffed. _Dismissal.  
  
_ _Lenalee taking high into the air, striking down through Crystal Path’s shield with Mei-Ling in her arms. ?_ Crystal Path asked Dark Boots curiously.  
Somewhat begrudgingly, Dark Boots nodded _._ _Approval._ _Affection.  
_ _Gratitude,_ Crystal Path said, simple and warm.  
Dark Boots sniffed again, slightly less dismissively. Allen smiled.

 

“So,” he said after everyone was quiet for a moment. “Crystal Path, you know someone will be coming to bring Mei-Ling to the Asian branch tomorrow.”

He wished that him and Lenalee and the others could make the journey with them. It would be safer for Mei-Ling, and Allen was curious what the Asian Branch was like. But they were running out of chances to find Cross; they couldn't afford to lose any more time. “And we'll be leaving, as well.” He didn't say it as a question because he didn't believe Crystal Path would be surprised.

She wasn’t. The small Innocence turned to Allen again, expression fading back into seriousness. _Agreement._

“Do you think she’s ready?” Allen asked. Not that there was much choice in bringing Mei-Ling to the Order now.  Allen didn’t like admitting it when she was so young, especially when it wasn’t her fault, but her staying any longer would only mean more danger for the rest of the village. It was clear Mei-Ling would feel terrible if anyone else got hurt because akuma were targeting her.  
 

Crystal Path nodded. _Confidence._ After a second she offered, _The village in winter, in autumn, in late summer. The rose and cross of the Black Order. Recognition. Fog in a forest obscuring paths but not the horizon. Mei-Ling as a young child. Dark clouds at sunset, a sky clear at night. Mei-Ling as she was now. Allen and the others._ She looked at him meaningfully. **_Recognition._**

   
“... you knew we were coming,” Allen realized. “You’ve known for a long time.” 

He and Lavi had talked about it, back at the lake, but it was another thing to hear it from the Innocence herself. Since Crystal Path had known… she must’ve shown Mei-Ling what would happen after she became an Exorcist. The aftermath of some battle, most likely. Allen grimaced with the renewed swell of sympathy in his chest. He knew it was necessary, but still, what an awful thing for a child to see.  
 

 _Mei-Ling looking up at Lenalee,_ Dark Boots interjected.  
Allen looked up sharply. Dark Boots was looking at him, some of her usual impatience in her expression. Despite that, the next things she said were hopeful: _Mei-Ling holding onto Lenalee as she fought the akuma. The two of them inside the shield. The younger girl with her hand out to Crystal Path. Approval._  

 _Agreement._ Crystal Path smiled again. _Mei-Ling’s small face, her hand reaching out. Determination. Love, pride! Allen, Lenalee, Lavi and Krory standing; Mei-Ling standing with them._ She looked at Allen. _Points of light dancing._ _Faith._

Crystal Path believed in them, and in her accommodator. Of course. Allen shook his head clear, and smiled at her.  “She’s very brave,” he said as thanks.

 

 _Agreement. Faith,_ Crystal Path repeated. _Expectation._ Then she hesitated. _The village. Akuma? Mei-Ling over water.  ??_

Allen nodded. They’d all seen Crystal Path’s sheer power on her own-- if Mei-Ling worked hard training with her, the girl could be an amazing Exorcist. But the road there would still be dangerous. “She’ll be safe,” he promised.

Crystal Path nodded, her small shoulders relaxing. _Relief._

 

*

 

 

Allen had had all intentions of keeping his promise. 

Then, the next day, Lulbelle’s maid had shown up again and everything had gone to hell.  
  


After the initial skirmish they realized they couldn’t wait for the Asian Branch Finder to show up before they left, so they had rented a cart and two horses and had drove as quickly as they’d dared. Lenalee, Krory and Bookman sat in the cart with Mei-Ling--Lena refused to leave her side at all--while Lavi handled the horses and Allen kept a look-out.

Akuma had chased them through the hills. They only survived because of Mei-Ling and Crystal Path’s warnings, Mei-Ling getting more and more exhausted with every vision. It was too late that they realized it had all been a trap.  
Allen, Lenalee and Mei-Ling were separated from the others in an ambush. The Noah who had been tailing them since they had gotten into the village finally showed herself, and they had no choice but to fight.

 

It did not seem like a fight they could win. Lulubelle was a formidable enemy, while Allen, Mei-Ling and Lenalee were all exhausted.   
Krory and the others had arrived in the nick of time, but then the dragon-shaped akuma servant so devoted to Lulubelle returned, and the battle swung hard towards her.  
  
The fight was chaotic. Even more than most for Allen. Level twos just kept materializing out of thin air.  All the agonized souls, almost unrecognizable, burnt in his vision. It hurt to see. He was afraid for his friends, both human and Innocence. They were moving so quickly he couldn’t hear or see most of them in the madness. The exception was Heaven Compass; out of all the Innocences there he alone wasn’t activated, so he kept his human form. His face was tenser than usual when he and Bookman ran into the ravine which had become their battlefield. Allen soon lost track of him.  
  
Mei-Ling had passed out with Crystal Path still clutched to her chest. Lenalee had pulled the girl into her arms, carrying her like an infant as she dashed around the air and ground, attacking and dodging, Dark Boots glowing furiously. Lavi and Allen and Krory were all fighting as hard as they could around her, but—it wasn’t enough.

 

One of Lulubelle’s servant’s attacks hit. Lenalee cried out in anger and fear at a lash of the akuma’s tail. Crystal Path was wrenched from Mei-Ling’s arms.

The crystal ball clattered over the rocky ground, farther and farther away from the Exorcists, until she was caught in one of the Noah’s hands.

 

 _Anger! Horror!_ **_Horror!_   
** Allen heard Crystal Path’s screams before he saw her. Through the dust, he could just make her out. She was standing on the other side of the wrecked path, her hands clenched around her head as if in pain. 

Panic pushed Allen forwards. He pulled himself back to his feet, facing the Noah. “Luluebelle! Give that _back_!” He activated Clown Crown, the claw gleaming almost as tall as Allen himself, and swung towards Lulubelle.

She smirked and dodged sideways. Allen threw himself towards her again and again, but she kept phasing infuriatingly into the smoke.

  
He moved to attack again, right before he felt the wind pull his hair back and heard the rush of light feet on the ground behind him.  
The next second Lulubelle’s servant had thrown herself in front of him. She grinned with metal teeth as her fans formed into blades.

What happened next was a furious blur of motion and sound. The fans’ blades dug scars in the ground inches away from Allen’s boots. Every sound of the battle, each metal strike and aggressive yell, was echoed off the ravine’s walls which penned them all in. Allen didn’t _think_ so much as _feel_ his way around the ravine.  
He only knew that his last strike had landed when the akuma’s blood hit his face.  
 

There was a moment—only a couple of split seconds—between Crown Clown sinking into the akuma’s chest and the explosion. Allen threw himself backwards, away from the akuma and the Noah. Adrenaline sang through him.    
  
Mimi dropped her fans onto the ground. They landed heavily as lead. She said something to Lulubelle. The soul trapped to her form was unravelling, twisting back into something close to human, its relief almost visible.  
 

Allen for once didn’t pay attention to the salvaged soul. His attention was drawn back across the ravine, towards his friends and to Crystal Path. His head was ringing aggressively, but he could still hear her.  
  


She’d appeared right by Mei-Ling’s side, reaching up to where Mei-Ling was being held tightly in Lenalee’s arms. Lenalee was tense, ready to spring back into action as soon as a threat showed. Mei-Ling was laying still, exhausted from the fight.  
Crystal Path rested her palm on Mei-Ling’s face, which was scratched and bloody but mostly whole. _Relief,_ she said. _Affection-love-protectiveness, worry, relief.  
_ The Innocence sounded—something was wrong about her tone; more than exhausted or frightened. Like she was _resigned._  
“No,” Allen whispered, barely taking in enough air to voice the words. “No, you can’t be giving up.” There was still a chance, wasn't there?  

The other Innocences resonated, crying out-- Bloody Krory in rage, Iron Hammer in resistance and dismay, Dark Boots with burning denial.  
Heaven Compass, the only one not activated on the battlefield other than Crystal Path herself, stepped up to her side. His round face was solemn, impassive; he looked more like Bookman than ever. _Grief,_ he said quietly.  
 _  
Grief,_ Crown Clown echoed, resonating from where he was with Allen. _Anger, apprehension—_  

Crystal Path turned to look at Heaven Compass, then nodded at him gravely. Such a strange motion for such a young-seeming Innocence. _Gratitude,_ she replied. _Faith.  
_ _Faith,_ Heaven Compass agreed, and stepped back again.  
 

The explosion from the destroyed akuma hit like a wall on Allen’s back. Its noise broke the silence’s spell. He threw Clown Crown up defensively, managing to stay on his feet.  
Smoke completely blocked Lulubelle from his view, and shock held him in place.

Behind him, Crystal Path still had her hand on her accommodator’s face in a gesture the young girl couldn't feel. She was murmuring like anyone would to comfort a child. _Mei-Ling as a baby; Mei-Ling the day before, accepting Crystal Path back. Sorrow and love_ . _Pride.  
_ It was unmistakably a goodbye. 

 

Crystal Path turned suddenly towards Allen, her eyes fierce and brighter than normal. _Mei-Ling in her village with her grandfather! Mei-Ling laughing! Protectiveness!_  
“I can’t—” Allen stuttered, his eyes locked on her, his head buzzing.   
Lenalee’s arms had tightened around the girl and she was yelling something to the others, but the words didn’t make it past Allen’s ears. A deep, instinctive fear was gripping his heart. “Please, don’t—”  

**_Protectiveness!_ **

God _damn it,_ why couldn’t he ever save anyone?! Tears stung in Allen’s eyes. He refused to let them fall; instead, he looked up from the ground and met the frightened, determined Innocence’s gaze. This was the least he could possibly do.  
“Yes, I promise,” he told her. This one he’d make sure to keep. “I promise Mei-Ling will be safe.”  
 

The Innocence relaxed slightly, nodding. She turned back towards a shaking Lenalee, threading her fingers gently in Mei-Ling’s hair.  
Without moving away, she looked towards the plume of smoke—past it, to where the Noah had captured her equipment form. She sneered. Her hand that wasn’t comforting Mei-Ling clenched into a fist. _Derision,_ she spat in the Noah’s direction. _Certainty. The Millennium Earl impaled by a broadsword, grinning mask broken in half._

  
(Soft enough that even Allen didn’t notice, Crown Clown resonated, fear and surprise colouring it: _A broadsword. ??_ )

 

Afraid to look away, Allen nevertheless turned his head. The smoke had cleared enough that Allen could kind of see the silhouette of Lulubelle through it.  
The silhouette made a movement with its hand. Allen’s attention snapped back to the Innocence.  
 

Crystal Path burst.  
 

Mei-Ling flinched, gasping, her hand flying up to clutch at her chest like she was in physical pain. Allen clenched his fists, gritting his teeth so he didn’t cry out in horror.

  
Dust streamed from where Crystal Path had been standing, floating into the air around the ravine. Finer than sand, each particle glowed softly like an activated Innocence cube. It stirred in a wind that wasn’t there as it floated higher, sifting across Mei-Ling’s unknowing face, almost whispering something.

Then it faded into nothingness, and all traces of her were gone. 

 

/

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... sorry. /o\


End file.
